Combined Unit Plan Assessment and Evaluation - 2007

Unit Name: From Cells to Organs
Author: Carrie B.
Evaluator: Jay

Score summary: 24/25 with ALL SOE Criteria met. - fogleman Dec 17, 2007
This assessment is a combination of three different forms. The first is meant to provide feedback on the degree that the unit plan has incorporated the main ideas about science teaching stressed in EDC 430 this semester. The second is the URI School of Education Rubric that is used across all the teaching methods courses to make sure that the Rhode Island Beginning Teacher Standards (RIBTs) are being addressed. The third component is a summary of my feedback for each of your unit plan components. NOTE: All criteria on the SOE Rubric must score a 3 or above in order for you to begin student teaching. Please feel free to revise your unit plan based on this feedback, and send me an email explaining your revisions.

Completeness and Organization

Criteria	Points/Possible	Comments
1. Is the unit plan organized in a way that makes sense?	01/(01)
2. Are all the components present? (e.g. Purpose, Concept Map or Outline, 10 Day Lesson Sequence, 3 Long Lessons, Rationale citing how students learn, Assessment strategy.)	12/(12)
3. Is the writing clear, engaging, proofread, formatted, etc.	01/(01)

Content

Criteria	Points/Possible	Comments
4. Are the standards unpacked to indicate subtopics? Student preconceptions?	02/(02)
5. Does each lesson include learning performances, i.e. statements about what students will be able to do at the end of the lesson?	01/(02)	Instructional objectives should express what students will become able to do during the lesson, and should be assessable to determine whether students understood day's lesson.
6. Do the plans have students doing something every day? Do students experience phenomena related to the topic?	02/(02)
7. Do laboratory activities include sufficient time/instruction for students to do/learn about science practices?	01/(01)

Assessment

Criteria	Points/Possible	Comments
8. Do the long lesson plans include questions that allow for formative assessment?	02/02
9. Are students assessed at a variety of cognitive levels?	02/02

Overall impression

10. What will students love (or at least enjoy) about this unit? I think students will appreciate the coherence of the sequence as well as the video clips and experiences with phenomena.

11. What might be added to make this unit more engaging? You might consider a series of web pages with the videos you want them to see, since I think you will be pushed for time and the videos can be viewed at home, as you pointed out.

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SOE Unit Plan Rubric

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Score: 5. Evidence/ Comments:

Activities are designed for school's context and curriculum. GSEs are taken into consideration.

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Score: 5. Evidence/ Comments:

Lessons explicitly address national content standards as well as pedagogical features expressed in RIBTS such as providing students with a variety of learning experiences and tasks at a variety of cognitive levels.

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Score: 5 Evidence/ Comments:

Each lesson connects subject with students' prior knowledge. Theme of unit is an awareness of importance of taking care of one's brain.

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Score: 5 Evidence/ Comments:

A variety of experiences, including laboratory activities such as microscope studies and video interpretations are used to represent new content.

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Score: 5 Evidence/Comments:

Lessons begin and end with questions about what students know and are learning.

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Score: 4. Evidence/Comments:

Lessons explicitly acknowledge need for accommodations based on IEPs. Activities are designed to address differences in students' learning styles.

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Score 5: Evidence/Comments:

Technology is used in a variety of appropriate ways, including whole-class demonstrations, small group research, and individual research.

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Score: 5 Evidence/Comments:

Materials were developed to provide students with a learning artifact from each activity.

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Score: 5 Evidence/Comments

Students are ask to explain, diagram, observe, explain, etc. Several lessons begin with students taking inventory of what they already know via KWL chart.

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Score: 4 Evidence/Comments:

Students are assessed formatively and summatively. They are often given rubrics to understand class expectations. Daily objectives need to be reworded so that they are assessible

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Score: 5 Evidence/Comments:

Few if any typos detected.

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Detailed Feedback - Days 1-3

Overview

• Nicely done.

Learning Goals

• Unpacking is complete, with well-articulated "meanings" statements.

Concept Map

• Graphical representation and it accompanying explanation does a nice job of communicating the sequential nature of the lessons, as well as how they will address the learning goals of the unit.
• Would you give your students a copy of this graphic as a "map" of the unit? Would you convert it to a poster, hang it, and use it in class to reinforce "we are here" at various times in the unit?

Lesson Sequence

• Brief descriptions with links to lessons seems like another nice way to present the unit's sequence.

L01 Cellular Structure and Function

Day 1:

• Overview - Good
• Objectives
  • Very ambitious; activities will call for lower and higher order thinking.
• Lesson Intro
  • Good intro plan, but I would suggest you shorten your (posted) objectives:
    • Students will:
      • share initial ideas about big and small organisms
      • research organisms and share common characteristics.
      • Describe features common to largest and smallest organisms.

Note: Last objective should express what students are doing to learn: View and answer questions about single cell organisms. You should review all of your lesson objectives to make sure they indicate what students will be able to do as a result of the lesson.

• Instructional Activities
  • Remind students of behavior guidelines in room where they are doing research
  • Be sure to validate students' online research by letting them share and listening to synthesize. Have the record class-inspired generalizations on their worksheet to maintain a record (and thus validating) of your discussion.
  • I think you probably will run out of class time. I like the idea of assigning the video and worksheet for homework because it lets them know that expect them to learn outside of class as well. You should have a contingency for students w/o online access, e.g. computers reserved after school. Because you unit is so well planned, you can let the know this in advance so that they can arrange for transportation.
• Conclusion
  • Keep your eyes on the time. You may have to omit the video. Remember to (1) come back to the main idea and (2) exclaim!
• Assessment
  • Your rubric evaluates creativity based on the graphics provided. How will students put graphics on the worksheet? You should show students this rubric before they start research since you are requiring many "extra" facts in order to receive full credit.
  • You win. I love the embedded online rubric. :-)

Day2

• Objectives - reword: Instead of "Students will collaborate on a Mitosis lab..." say Students will collaborate to identify the steps of mitosis from a series of slides." This objective expresses something that students will do that can be assessed.
• Introduction - nice; be sure to ask the question! Post objective and paraphrase to save time.
• Instructional Activities
  • Be sure to ask a question before introducing KWL.
  • This section of your lesson plan is a sequence of instructions, but remember that you have to motivate students for each step through questions and by modeling interest. You can ruin this lesson if you rush it or treat it as a sequence of tasks.
  • Again, I think your activities may run long, but that's okay. Don't rush because that teaches students to rush through procedures w/o thinking about science.
• Conclusion
  • Nice return to KWL and what did we learn. I wouldn't write in your plans that you will end instruction early. '
  • I am impressed with your thinking about "what if...," since a teacher's day is often defined by events that defy prediction. I would suggest that you accumulate your videos in your own wikispace (of course lol). I figured out a way to embed teacherdomain videos, shown here: https://uriteacherknowledge.wikispaces.com/NDSL+-+Video+Embed+Test

Day3

• Objectives - reword as needed from previous comments.
• Introduction
  • I like your strategy of asking about the homework and then asking why it was assigned. This raises the bar for students because you're asking them to think like you and anticipate your questions. This will resonate with the higher-ability students, so be sure to make eye contact with the not-so-high ability students to show them you expect this of them as well. End with a smile to relieve the pressure, since they really can't read your mind. :-)
  • Instruction
    • Good discussion questions.